


Temporal Loop #23

by Geritashipper123



Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: A sort of "What If", Angst, Culmets - Freeform, Episode Related, Fluff, Hugh is half hispanic on his mother side, M/M, The death is temporary, The time loop, you know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-01
Updated: 2017-11-01
Packaged: 2019-01-27 17:35:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12587080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geritashipper123/pseuds/Geritashipper123
Summary: Paul makes a mistake, and it has some major repercussions





	Temporal Loop #23

**Author's Note:**

> HA HAAAAAAAA THIS GRABBED HOLD OF ME AND WON'T LET GO!
> 
> Dedicated to Hugh Culber MY BABY UGH I LOVE HIM and his SPACE HUSBAND

He messed up. 

Paul’s smart, he  _ knows  _ what he did. He was so incredibly fed up with this entire mess- Harry Mudd was like a cockroach, he just  _ wouldn’t go down. _

So, time loop #22.

It happens like always.

Until the end. 

He walks in on Mudd killing  _ Tilly,  _ of all people, and he just- 

It’s  _ Tilly.  _ The smart and brave girl who’s gonna be a captain, his little engineering prodigy. So  _ young.  _ She doesn’t deserve a second of this.

He sees red. 

The things he says are unsavory, they may be some of the Spanish words he’s picked up from Hugh’s  _ abuelita.  _ (His mother’s mom, from the Spanish side of Hugh’s family. She’s probably the most badass old lady Paul’s ever met. Makes  _ great  _ brownies.) 

Mudd just rolls his eyes as he rants, asking the same question as always- “you’re an engineer, explain how the drive works?” 

_ “Screw you!”  _ Paul snapped. “You ask that every time and the answer will still be the same!” 

It’s only when Mudd gets that  _ look  _ on his face that he knows. He  _ knows  _ he just really  _ really really _ badly fucked up.

“You know about the loop.” Mudd says plainly.  _ “You’re the reason I keep losing” _

The ship explodes, and it all begins again.   
  


* * *

 

“-cerned about your physical form I mean- look at what happened to the-“

“Tardigrade.” Paul interrupts. It always restarts at the same moment and while he  _ loves  _ his husband’s concerned ranting, finds it  _ adorable,  _ He doesn’t have  _ time  _ for it, and besides, he can’t remember the beginning of the conversation anyway. “I know, Hugh, I get it, trust me.”

Hugh looked vaguely offended, and Paul heaved a sigh. “Okay, look, you won’t believe me, because you  _ never  _ believe me, but we have  _ had  _ this conversation. 23 times now. We’re in a time loop and the same 30 minutes keep repeating!”

Hugh stares, then pulls out his tricorder. 

Paul groans. “Oh my-  _ never mind.  _ You’re cute and shit but  _ dammit Hugh-” _

Paul runs a hand through his hair and turns on his heel. “I have to go, later!”

“Paul, get back here! We have to talk about this!”

Paul’s learned how to lose him, and this time Hugh lets him go in a record 6 minutes, leaving him with 24 to beat Mudd. This is always his least favorite part, figuring out his ploy and finding out what Mudd’s is. He’s started at the party the past few times, and it’s been going well, so he heads down there, hurrying to beat the page from the bridge. What happens every so often is he doesn’t get there fast enough, and this is one of those times. He grumbles an explicative, changing course to head to the bridge. Ash and Michael are already in the lift, but Paul just manages to get into the lift with them.

“Listen,” he begins, and says his whole spiel. They look at him like he’s crazy which- okay, fine, he’s used to that now. They get to the bridge and before Paul can step out, Tyler pushes him back into the lift and Burnham orders the lift direct to sickbay. 

Paul blinks, then groans loudly. He curses Michael Burnham and everything she stands for, and sighs, crossing his arms. He’ll go in, and then he can leave again. 

He doesn’t expect to see Hugh’s entire staff dead. 

_ Oh god.  _ Paul feels sick- he’s just found Mudd and-

He messed up the last timeline.  _ You’re the reason I keep losing,  _ Mudd had said. 

Paul’s blood turns to ice, because Hugh’s gonna be  _ devastated  _ by this. He loves his staff, he would take a bullet for them, and Mudd’s shot them all. 

He has to find Hugh, Hugh was here somewhere,  _ alive  _ and devastated and terrified. 

He’s right. 

Hugh is in the exam room.

Mudd is approximately four feet away, some sort of knife in hand and pointed at-

Harcourt Fenton Mudd has a knife at the throat of Paul’s husband  _ his partner in life and in crime and the man who owns his whole heart and- _

Paul sees red.

He charges forward to pull Mudd away, to grab Hugh and hold him and never let him go and ensure that  _ absolutely nothing harms him and- _

He hits that  _ stupid particle barrier.  _ He  _ hates  _ that trick of Mudd’s, and he snarled, slamming a hand against it. “Mudd,  _ you let him go-!” _

“Hmm,” Mudd says. “You see, I was wondering how you knew about the loop, and I’m still curious. Enlighten me?”

“Paul,” Hugh whispers. “Paul I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Paul says, rushing to reassure his husband. “It’s okay, it’ll all be okay, I promise, I’m gonna-”

“Not that this isn’t touching,” Mudd drawled. “But I  _ do  _ want my answer now.”

“I don’t know!” Paul snapped. “Now let him-”

“But you know how the spore drive works?” Mudd asked, grinning. “I would so enjoy knowing!”

Paul’s heart leaps into his throat, and Mudd twists the knife ever so slightly. It knicks Hugh’s jugular and a tiny stream of blood seeps out and slithers down to the pristine white uniform like some sort of awful, terrible snake. Paul swallows, mouth opening and then closing again. 

He has to tell Mudd, he has to. He’ll kill Hugh. Mudd is going to kill the love of his life and he  _ needs to-  _ he  _ can’t  _ live without Hugh, he can’t. 

Hugh shakes his head minutely, and Paul swallows. He can’t let Mudd do this. He can’t. “I-”

“I know how to use it.” Hugh suddenly says, and Mudd looks at him, surprised. Paul freezes again and tries to inhale.  _ No,  _ oh dear sweet god  _ no,  _ his stupid,  _ foolish  _ doctor. Hugh continues. “I do, I know how to use it.”

“Oh really?” Mudd steps closer and Paul growls. Mudd  _ smiles  _ in that sickening way- “Tell me how.”

“The… the spores,” Hugh began “They interact with- with human DNA. You, you have to-”

And then, all Paul can do is  _ watch  _ as Mudd pulls the knife back and slams it into Hugh’s abdomen.

Paul stares. Hugh’s uniform turns red, and his knees buckle. Paul slams his hands against the particle barrier. He has to get in there- has to- 

Mudd says something. Says “I do so hate liars. Ah well, I’ll figure it out. I’m due on the bridge, ta!” 

He waves, the transporter sweeps him up, and the particle barrier falls just as Paul’s knees buckle. 

Hugh is on his side, only a few feet away. The blood is dripping onto the floor  _ (unsanitary,  _ Paul thinks, Hugh will have to bleach the floors) and making a pool. Paul is frozen, brain unable to process what his eyes are telling him, for at least 34 seconds, before he remembers how his legs work and frantically crawls over. 

Hugh smells like blood, and Paul feels bile well up in his throat. 

“Oh  _ god.”  _ He croaks. “Oh god-  _ oh god oh god oh god-  _ Hugh!”

His hands flit helplessly over the still form of his partner. “Hugh,  _ Hugh,  _ oh god, baby-”

Hugh coughs, face already pale. Paul’s heart clenches and he feels-  _ shit,  _ he’s crying and he’s utterly useless and  _ come on,  _ he’s been married to Hugh for years, Hugh can say a few things about engineering that he’s picked up from Paul’s babbling, why can’t Paul seem to remember one stupid thing about Hugh’s profession?

Hugh’s eyes start to close, and Paul chokes on air.  _ “No no no-  _ hey! Hey, c’mon, you can’t fall asleep you-! People with bloodloss can’t sleep, or is that concussions- oh  _ christ no,  _ darling-”

_ “Amoricito.”  _ Hugh coughs weakly, raising a shaky hand. Paul grabs it and puts it down again.  _ “No  _ you have to- conserve your-”

_ “Hermoso.”  _ Hugh says next, and this time Paul is unable to stop Hugh as he reaches up and wipes a tear from Paul’s cheek. 

“It’s okay.” Hugh breathes. “It’s  _ okay.  _ ‘M Sorry I didn’t believe you.”

“Stop  _ talking.”  _ Paul demands. “For once stop talking-  _ just shut up and don’t die-” _

Hugh laughs, and it turns into a cough, which turns into Paul watching  _ his everything  _ gag on his own blood. 

“It hurts.” Hugh mumbles. “Wanna sleep.”

_ “No sleeping!”  _ Paul practically shrieks, although he can’t imagine why, Hugh is probably the only medical officer still alive in the vicinity, and Paul has never been so useless in his entire life and-

And Hugh’s eyes are closing and-

_ “No.”  _ Paul manages, feeling his throat close as he panicks. “No. No no  _ no- nononononoono oh god-” _

Hugh is- he’s so  _ still  _ and-

Paul sobs, heartbroken and feeling his very mind shatter.  _ Hugh is- _

He collapses atop his husband and presses his face against Hugh’s collarbone, sobbing like the broken man he is now. He kisses along Hugh’s neck, up to his ear, praying and hoping and wishing and  _ oh god he’s dead he’s dead- _

_ “Hugh!”  _ Paul sobs. “Hugh, no-  _ no no no!  _ This isn’t supposed to happen it- It isn’t  _ supposed to-!”  _

Suddenly, he sits up so fast he gets whiplash. Mudd.  _ Mudd.  _ Mudd did this and he-

_ The loop. _

A quick calculation says that he has 4 minutes left before it’s supposed to reset. And it  _ has  _ to reset, it  _ needs  _ to because this- Hugh’s body lying cold and  _ dead  _ on the floor-  _ this  _ can  _ not  _ be reality, not now and not ever again. 

Mudd. Mudd is on the bridge. 

Paul growls, and stands up. He stalks over to the turbolift, and snarls his destination. The lift rises, and Paul steps out just as Mudd points his gun at the Captain. 

Mudd looks up at him like he’s a minor annoyance. “Can’t you see I’m  _ busy?”  _

Paul keeps walking forward, and Mudd rolls his eyes. “Oh, what is it? Was it that precious doctor of yours, did he-”

Mudd lets out the most satisfying yelp when Paul’s fist smashes into his nose, and promptly crumples to the floor. Paul isn’t prone to violence, not really, but seeing Mudd in a position so similar to Hugh’s  _ breaks  _ something inside him and he slams the toe of his boot into Mudd’s gut.

Mudd lets out an  _ oof  _ and then sits up to scramble away. “Now, now hold on- ah!”

Paul punches him again, and this time he hears the cheekbone crack. Mudd whimpers and keeps crawling away. “Now let’s be  _ rational-” _

_ “Fuck rational!”  _ Paul snaps, kicking Mudd again. “Stabbing Hugh wasn’t  _ rational!  _ It was you, being a murderous  _ bastard!  _ He deserves to be here-  _ Not you!” _

“What do you  _ want  _ from me?!” Mudd shrieks, dodging another punch and yelping again when Paul grabs his collar and forces him upwards. 

“The loop. Reset it,  _ now.”  _ Paul snarls. “Or I swear to god, I’ll  _ throw you out an airlock!” _

Mudd blinks, then sighs. “But I was so-”

Paul lets out something comparable to a roar, and Mudd  _ squeaks.  _

“However, I do know when I’m beaten and I must say you got me quite well good sir I-”

“Loop.  _ Now.”  _ Paul hisses. Mudd sighs and pulls out his bomb and presses the-

 

* * *

 

 

“-cerned about your physical form I mean- look at what happened to the-“

“Tardigrade.” Paul interrupts, voice soft. He blinks, looking around. They're in the hall like always. And there, next to him is-

_ “Hugh.”  _ He breathes like the name is a prayer. Hugh looks at him and blinks, worried. “Paul, what’s-”

“Hugh,  _ Hugh-”  _ Paul chokes again, because it  _ worked,  _ Hugh is alive and well and there won’t even be a scar and- 

Suddenly, he darts forward and kisses his partner square on the mouth, clenching a hand in his doctor’s collar. Hugh makes a surprised grunt but kisses him back. Softer, less forceful. He pulls back after a moment and blinks slowly. “Paul what’s-”

“Nothing,” Paul says, blinking and hoping he’s not crying. “Nothing’s wrong. I have  _ you,  _ You’re here, you’re  _ beautiful  _ and perfect and I am so  _ lucky  _ to have you that it’s overwhelming and I love you  _ oh god I love you so much Hugh-” _

He kisses him again, and Hugh makes another cute and surprised noise. Paul  _ loves  _ that noise, and loves when Hugh makes it.

A part of his brain says he’s wasting time, but he’s got all the time in the world, he can waste some loving his partner.   
  


* * *

 

 

Hugh dies five more times in the 37 more loops it takes to beat Mudd. 

But Paul saves him, each and every time. There is  _ no  _ repeat of Loop 23, not ever.

 

* * *

 

On the 60th loop, they finally get it. They reenter the time stream, and Mudd gets his due (although a part of Paul still wants to jettison the man out an airlock but, hey, that’s just him.)

After it all, when he’s given his formal report to Lorca 86 times because the Captain just wouldn’t believe him, he’s allowed to go back to his quarters. 

Hugh is there, changing for bed. He blinks up at Paul and smiles  _ that  _ smile. 

“Hey,” Hugh says “You’ve had a bad day, huh?”

Paul comes over and sinks onto the bed, hugging Hugh close to him. He  _ knows  _ he’s gonna have nightmares about Hugh dying, probably for the rest of his life. But he’ll cross that bridge when he gets to it because right now-

Right now he snorts and says “My dear doctor, you don’t know the half of it.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Come check me out on Tumblr (AND COME SEE THE VERY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT)
> 
> www.flamingbluepanda.tumblr.com
> 
> SEE YA ;)


End file.
